Goals from Ciaran Clark and Idrissa Gana saved Aston Villa from possible extra time and penalties in the team's FA Cup third-round replay against Wycombe Wanderers at Villa Park this evening.
The Premier League outfit managed to see out a 2-0 win over League Two opposition and set up a fourth-round tie against former English champions Manchester City.
© Getty Images
Inside the first 10 minutes of the match, Rudy Gestede had an opportunity to put Villa in front as Jack Grealish's cross from the left side of the area found the target man.
The forward rose above two Wycombe defenders to direct a header towards the goal, but his attempt went just over the crossbar.
Chances were few and far between, but Jordan Ayew created a decent opportunity for Villa when he unleashed a right-footed strike from inside the box, but it smashed into the side-netting.
Just before that, Michael Harriman let the ball fly at goal from the edge of the box, but his attempt soared above the top right corner, giving the visitors some hope of scoring.
© Getty Images
Villa showed pace on the counter-attack with Grealish and Scott Sinclair, but they struggled to find a way through Wycombe, who grew into the game as it went on.
Around the half-hour mark Sam Wood came the closest to scoring when he found space in the box before powering a shot, but Brad Guzan managed to drop to the ground to make the stop at the bottom right corner.
Towards the end of the first half, Sinclair moved into the centre of the 18-yard box before letting fly a strike from his left foot, but the goalkeeper was there to prevent the ball getting any further.
After the break, the home side tried to pick up the pace as substitute Gana sprayed the ball out wide to Ayew, who charged into the box before shooting, but his effort went wide.
© Getty Images
Frustrations began to show among the fans as smattering of boos could be heard in the stadium, and the 4,000 travelling Wycombe supporters rubbed salt in the wound by jeering every time the home team misplaced a pass.
Sinclair tried to cheer up the crowd with a few decent attempts, one of which went wide and the other was blocked by Aaron Pierre, who made a late intervention in the box.
A huge sigh of relief went around Villa Park when the home side broke the deadlock in the 75th minute through Clark, who latched on to the end of a cross from Westwood and headed the ball into the top corner.
In the closing stages of the match, Villa looked comfortable and they extended their lead in the 90th minute when Gana collected the ball from Gestede off Sinclair's cross and drilled it into the bottom corner.
Danielle Joynson
